15 heartbreaking photos of abandoned buildings in Baltimore and Philadelphia

These abandoned places are a goldmine for photographer Ben Marcin, whose eye was drawn to the lonely row homes left standing without neighbors.

"To me the houses first appeared as graveyard monuments," Marcin told Business Insider.

But as he began photographing more and more solo townhomes, he realized some weren't entirely empty. A run-in with one resident changed Marcin's perspective on the neighborhoods and the houses that remain there.

"The solo row houses became more than monuments to dying neighborhoods; they had become an act of defiance," he said.

Following are 15 images of the homes he captured, in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Camden, New Jersey.

Vacant homes are especially susceptible to fires, which pose a safety issue to neighbors and cost the city considerable amounts of money to prevent and put out.

"Officially, the abandoned house tally for Baltimore stands at around 16,000, but I suspect that this is a very conservative estimate," Marcin said.

Ben Marcin

Marcin is right. The US Census Bureau has found up to 33% of Baltimore's housing uninhabited.

Ben Marcin

That would bring the total up to 46,800 homes.

Ben Marcin

During the course of the project, Marcin realized that not all of the homes were totally abandoned.

Philadelphia.Ben Marcin

"An older gentleman popped out of what I thought was an abandoned solo row house," Marcin said. "He had on a pair of jeans, a dirty T-shirt, and a bathrobe. He was not at all pleased to see me."

Philadelphia.Ben Marcin

"A rapid-fire series of questions and answers ensued. It was obvious that he had at one time strongly resisted any official attempt to remove him from his house, and the city probably decided it was in their interest to leave him alone," he said.

Philadelphia.Ben Marcin

Although they were more rare, Marcin began seeking out the single row homes that were still inhabited.

Philadelphia.Ben Marcin

He then decided to venture outside of Baltimore. "Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey are two cities that have also had more than their share of social turmoil over the years," he said.

Camden, New Jersey.Ben Marcin

Solutions to the vacant-home problem aren't as simple as restoring them. As Stefanie DeLuca, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University, told The Washington Post, "Solving vacant houses won't fix the problems that created them in the first place." Maryland plans to tear down thousands of vacant homes to make room for more development in Baltimore.